I always hoped he would be one of those folks that would make it over a hundred.

Arthur C. Clarke is dead

"Did Charles Taylor order you to eat people?" Griffith asked.

"Yes, to set an example for the people to be afraid," Marzah replied.

He appeared unfazed by Griffith's blunt queries, and responded in matter-of-fact tones to such questions as "How do you prepare a human being for the pot?"

Marzah then described the splitting, cleaning, decapitating and cooking of the corpse with salt and pepper. "We throw your head away," he said.

He said the victims were usually from the ethnic Krahn, the tribe of former Liberian President Samuel Doe whom Taylor set out to topple in 1989. But they also included peacekeepers from the Nigerian-led ECOMOG, the African peacekeeping force sent to the area in 1990, and some U.N. people, he said.

"How many ECOMOG soldiers did you eat?" the attorney asked.

"We ate a few but not many. But many were executed, about 68," the witness said, and several U.N. personnel also were captured. The time and location of the incident were unclear.

"Which ones taste best?" Griffith asked.

"There was no alternative but to do it your own way," Marzah replied.

"Thank you, but I prefer it my way."

Top aide testifies Taylor ordered soldiers to eat victims

A man is comatose in a Las Vegas hospital after the deadly poison ricin was found in his hotel room, police told CNN affiliate KLAS-TV on Friday.

Police don't suspect foul play in the poisoning, KLAS reported. The FBI said it was treating the case as a criminal investigation and terrorism was not suspected.

"We don't know who [the ricin] belongs to or why it would be here at this time," said Capt. Joe Lombardo of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.

Authorities were called to an Extended Stay America hotel around 3 p.m. PT Thursday after a man brought a bag with a small container to the manager's office. The man said he found it while retrieving items from a hotel room.

Ricin left in a hotel room in Vegas... That should raise some eyebrows.

There is some conflicting information in this article. There is this:

Tests to confirm the substance found in the room was ricin are under way.

But then there is this:

The substance is "100 percent ricin," Lombardo said.

shrug..

Report: Man comatose after exposure to ricin poison - CNN.com

William F. Buckley Jr., the erudite Ivy Leaguer and conservative herald who showered huge and scornful words on liberalism as he observed, abetted and cheered on the right's post-World War II rise from the fringes to the White House, died Wednesday. He was 82.

R.I.P.

William F. Buckley Jr. dies at 82 - Yahoo! News

Japan's Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba is considering how his Self-Defense Forces could respond to an attack by space aliens while adhering to limits on military action under the country's war-renouncing Constitution.

Ishiba said yesterday a Japanese military response, such as those in the Godzilla movie series, would require legal review and said he is studying ways Japan could deal with an attack. Ishiba said his comments represent a ``personal view,'' and not Defense Ministry policy, according to the transcript of the press conference published on the ministry's Web Site.

``There are no grounds for us to deny there are unidentified flying objects and some life-form that controls them,'' Ishiba said. ``Few discussions have been held on what the legal grounds are'' for a military response.

What can be said about this?

Bloomberg.com: Defense Minister Ishiba Considers Japan's Options in UFO Attack

A freeway bridge spanning the Mississippi River collapsed during evening rush hour Wednesday, sending many cars into the water.

Tons of concrete collapsed and there were injuries, authorities said. Survivors were being carried up the riverbank.

Some people were stranded on parts of the bridge that weren't completely submerged.

Damn. The pictures and footage that are coming into the various news outlets are insane. This is worse than the SF Bay Bridge collapse in 1989.

Freeway bridge collapses into river during rush hour in Minneapolis - CNN.com

Did the most powerful Republicans in America have the computer capacity, software skills and electronic infrastructure in place on Election Night 2004 to tamper with the Ohio results to ensure George W. Bush's re-election?

The answer appears to be yes. There is more than ample documentation to show that on Election Night 2004, Ohio's "official" Secretary of State website -- which gave the world the presidential election results -- was redirected from an Ohio government server to a group of servers that contain scores of Republican web sites, including the secret White House e-mail accounts that have emerged in the scandal surrounding Attorney General Alberto Gonzales's firing of eight federal prosecutors.

This is troubling. Comments on Slashdot are informative. Its not really clear there is a problem here beyond the fact that Ohio (like many states) has a partisan appointee running their elections commission and they picked the same outsourcing partner. I think elections in the US should be operated by the federal government. Basically, the propriety of Ohio's elections impacts who my President is, and so I ought to have a say in how they operate their election.

Network Hosting Attorney Scandal E-Mails Also Hosted Ohio's 2004 Election Results

A jet flying in formation with the U.S. Navy Blue Angels precision flying team crashed into a Beaufort, South Carolina, neighborhood, causing an "enormous fireball" during an air show, authorities said.

The Navy aviator was killed, Beaufort County Coroner Curt Copeland said. The F/A-18's pilot is the only known fatality. The aviator's name is being withheld pending notification of next of kin.

My condolences go out to the family of the dead aviator and the other members of the team. I am a huge fan of the Blue Angels. I have seen them preform at least 4 times now, and every time I'm always in awe.

In particular, when I've seen them preform over San Francisco. It's an amazing thing to behold. The people who make that team are unbelievably skilled..

Blue Angels jet crashes during air show, killing aviator - CNN.com

AOL News has obtained two plays a classmate says were written by Cho Seung-Hui. Ian MacFarlane, the former classmate and current AOL employee, provided us with the plays. A note from Mr. MacFarlane and links to the works appear below.

This kid was seriously disturbed. As information is coming out about this guy, it seems he was giving every warning sign that he was a problem waiting to happen.

Cho Seung-Hui's Plays

Gov. Jon S. Corzine was critically injured when his motorcade crashed en route to a meeting between radio personality Don Imus and the Rutgers women's basketball team, a doctor said.

Corzine, 60, suffered numerous broken bones but his injuries were not considered life-threatening, officials said. He was recuperating early Friday at Cooper University Hospital in Camden after two hours of surgery to repair a seriously damaged leg and other injuries.

Doctors also inserted a breathing tube that would remain "for days to weeks, until [Corzine] is able to breathe on his own again," Ostrum said.

Corzine had a broken sternum, a broken collarbone, a slight fracture of his lower vertebrae, a broken left leg, six broken ribs on each side and a laceration on his head, said Dr. Steven Ross, head of trauma for the hospital.

Corzine was riding in his two-car motorcade's sports utility vehicle when a white pickup truck swerved to avoid a red pickup truck that had corrected itself after driving onto the right shoulder of the Garden State Parkway around 6 p.m. EDT, said State Police Superintendent Rick Fuentes.

Meanwhile...

The Rutgers team -- including the 10 players, their parents, coaches, administrators and religious leaders -- met with Imus Thursday night at the New Jersey Governor's Mansion.

"We were able to really dialogue," said coach C. Vivian Stringer. "I thought it was productive. I am extremely proud of our 10 young basketball members. I have been throughout this entire ordeal."

Stringer declined to talk about what was said during the meeting or the CBS decision.

And Codey is in charge of the state again. Sigh...

New Jersey governor critically injured in motorcade crash while Imus meets with Rutgers team